30 March 2012

Doug Gottlieb wants the Kansas State job in what could be the worst idea ever

ESPN college basketball analyst, radio show host and overall hack Doug Gottlieb has thrown himself into the vacancy at Kansas State, whose prior head coach, Frank Martin, left a few days ago to take the head job at South Carolina. In my opinion, this could be one of the worst ideas in years.

Why in the world would Kansas State, a pretty good hoops program thanks to the work that Martin has done the last several years, take a chance on a guy who has never coached before ever? I understand thinking outside the box but this just does not make any sense. We've seen guys being hired straight from broadcasting roles to be coaches or personnel guys without any experience with some doing well but more than their fair share end up failing.

What has Gottlieb done to suggest that he would be a good coach? He's a mediocre analyst, his radio show sucks and he is in a perpetual state of anger, seemingly. Nobody would consider him one of ESPN's elite analysts, like Jay Bilas for example, and his lack of any type of coaching experience is a major downgrade for most programs, let alone a pretty good one like the one at KSU.

If we were talking a small school, why not take the chance. But I see no reason for Kansas State to make this hire, one that has been concocted entirely by Gottlieb, not the school.